More than 70 Cleveland State Community College students attended Stewards of Children training Tuesday to become certified facilitators in preventing the sexual abuse of children.
The training was offered through a partnership with The Hope Center: 10th Judicial District Children’s Advocacy Center and a grant from Athens Federal.

Social work and early childhood education majors attended the training, which consisted of video segments and processing the information through a workbook and discussion. The Athens Federal grant covered the cost of the workbooks for the students.

Children’s Advocacy Center Tennessee Chapter prevention specialist Tim Alexander led the students through the course. The video segment of the training highlights stories of survivors of child sex abuse, and statistics about how prevalent it is in society.

“It’s based on the concept of adults becoming responsible for the (sexual) safety of children,” Theresa Grant, executive director of The Hope Center, said.

The training also highlights that based on statistics, each person in the training knows a victim or a perpetrator of child sex abuse.

Vice President for Student Services Michael Stokes said he participated in a training as a part of the quarterly meeting of the Chief Student Affairs Officers of the Tennessee Board of Regents.

Stokes said the training had been offered because they work with students.

After the training, Stokes was in contact with the state office of Children’s Advocacy Center about offering the training to students. Stokes said he hopes to offer this opportunity again in the future.

CAC Family Advocate Erika Cullum said staff at The Hope Center had done the training earlier this month. Grant said there are four people at The Hope Center who can now offer the course.

Stewards of Children is a course developed by the Darkness to Light organization.

Grant said Darkness to Light provide evidence-based training and has a particular format used to offer the courses.

This 2 1/2-hour course is available through The Hope Center to any organization that works with children, Grant said. For more information, contact the Hope Center at 790-5740.

One Response to More students trained in fight against abuse!

This is just what we need in this country which is England
as I have been through sexually Abuse my self and would like others to know how to reconise situations and to know how to handle people that have been through it.